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Monday, March 9, 2009

Smile for the Camera:Brothers and Sisters

The word prompt for the 11th Edition of Smile For The Camera is brothers & sisters? Were they battling brothers, shy little sisters, or was it brother & sister against the world? Our ancestors often had only their siblings for company. Were they best friends or not? Show us that picture that you found with your family photographs or in your collection that shows your rendition of brothers & sisters.

First up: Brothers - Melvin, Harold, and Mandell Newmark

There was a significant difference in ages. Melvin was born in 1912, Harold in 1915, and Mandell in 1923. Here we see them, along with their parents, when Mandell was likely in his early teens.

When Mandell was in his late teens, his brothers would invite Mandell to bring his girlfriend to their homes for dinner. Then the war came. Mandell was 20 years old when he enlisted in 1943. He was killed in action on April 15, 1945. In October of 1944 he spent a month in the hospital due to jaundice, and November and December he was allowed to spend in reduced service with his brother, Mel, who was stationed nearby. He wrote in his war diary about how grateful he was for that month, and how he was disappointed to see it end. Below is a photo of Mandell and Mel taken in December of 1944 on the island of Biak off the coast of New Guinea.

Next up: Sisters - Minnie, Evva, and Myrtle Van Every

This is another situation where age divided the siblings. Minnie was born in 1886, Evva in 1892, and Myrtle in 1900. Geography divided them as well. At age 20, Myrtle left most of her family in Texas and moved to St. Louis. (Her brother, Samuel, was also in St. Louis at the time; I believe he was attending college, getting a degree in Optometry.)

Fate took the lives of their parents and five other siblings, leaving them with each other. The photograph below was taken in 1947, when Myrtle took her two daughters to Texas to visit their aunts and cousins.